Myanmar’s polluting mines selling to China through Thai companies
UMPHANG, Thailand — At 8 a.m. on June 26, at least 13 double-trailer trucks were lined up at the Pheung Khleung border crossing in northern Thailand — one of the few places where minerals can be legally transported overland from Myanmar into Thailand. Tensions were running high under the sun. The border gate had not […]
UMPHANG, Thailand — On the morning of June 26, a line of at least 13 double-trailer trucks awaited the opening of the Pheung Khleung border crossing in northern Thailand. This crossing is one of the few authorized routes for transporting minerals from Myanmar into Thailand. As tensions mounted, merchants at the border grew increasingly agitated, demanding that photographers avoid capturing images of the trade.
The previous day, the Thai military had allowed Mongabay journalists to observe the overland mineral trade, specifically the shipment of antimony from Myanmar's Karen state to Thailand's Tak province, a journey of approximately 200 kilometers (124 miles) south of Mae Sot. However, the journalists were prohibited from photographing the military personnel involved in the trade or the minerals themselves.
It wasn't until 10 a.m. that the border gates finally opened, allowing the first truck from Karen state to carry antimony, a silvery mineral utilized in bullets, bombs, armor, semiconductors, and other defense, aerospace, and technology industries, into Thai territory. Bars of processed antimony were unloaded from Myanmar trucks onto Thai trucks at the Pheung Khleung border crossing in June 2026.
Written by urgent.news from Mongabay's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
